Flowers....and more flowers...

DAY 120 - April 30, 2010

We just got home from Orlando when this picture was taken. It was after 11pm and the boys were trying to stay up to see us. My Mom was in town and had been with them since Thursday afternoon so they were in good hands. Tonight the boys made us an edible "welcome home" gift. This little sign was made from strawberries, bananas, raisins, and Goldfish crackers. They had also stopped and got us the flowers. It was a nice surprise to come home to.

DAY 119 - April 29, 2010

These orchids are in a nice big flower arrangement in the lobby of our hotel. I love the color and detail they have. While the background is not very attractive, the flowers were really beautiful!

Our "self portrait"

DAY 118 - April 28, 2010


Doug and I went to dinner at City Walk tonight which is part of the Universal Studios park. Actually, it's not inside the park gates but you have to walk through this area before getting into the park. The hotel Doug's training is at (and where we're staying) is across the street from Universal so it was nice and easy to drive over for a nice dinner. We ate at a Mexican restaurant and then went into the Bob Marley restaurant to listen to the live Jamaican music. It was a great night to sit in the open air and not worry about kids, work, evening activities, or anything else. Doug grabbed his cell phone and we took this picture. I think it's a great picture!

Almost ready for take off.

DAY 117 - April 27, 2010

This is my view as I was waiting for the plane to take off tonight to go join Doug in Orlando for a few days. Just after this picture was taken I was "informed" by the flight attendant that "All electronics included your camera." Well, alrighteeee...I'll put it away since we haven't even backed away from the terminal...I wouldn't want my camera to cause anyone to fall as they walk down the aisle! Hey...at least I got the picture of the day!

Pretty photogenic tonight!

DAY 116 - April 26, 2010




I had an excuse to play with my new lens tonight. Dawn needed some black and whites of each of the boys separately for a Mother's Day gift she's putting together for Chris. I think I took over 100 pictures of the boys trying different angles and poses trying to get just one that I thought was good enough. Don't be alarmed...I don't have to think between each picture. My camera has a mode that just snaps picture after picture as long as I'm holding down the button. That's what I did while I moved around slightly. I finally settled on these two. Also, my camera has a black and white setting which made it really easy because I didn't have to put it into a program on the computer and figure out how to switch it. It sure saved me a lot of time!

A little of this and a little of that...

DAY 115 - April 25, 2010

Doug is off to some training in Orlando for the next week. The boys and I dropped him off at the airport tonight. He doesn't go away on training very often but we always hate it when he does. Both the boys have a really hard time with it. I'm not a fan either but...this time...he is only going to be gone a couple days then I'm joining him! I'm SO READY for some time away from home...just him and I!

DAY 114 - April 24, 2010

Today was another photography get together in Brazil, Indiana. This was the same place I went back in February. I'm slowly learning my camera but just can't seem to find the time I'd like to dedicate to it...or willing subjects! Today a group got together to practice shooting pictures and just talk photography. I'm DEFINITELY in the back of the crowd with this as all others that came had photography businesses or were at least paid in some way for their photography. The older girl here was the daughter of one of the attendees and the younger one is the hostess' daughter. I learned some techniques and got lots of practice (can you say over 600 pictures in just a few hours?!?) and I think I'm getting better. These are completely untouched by me. They are not cropped or processed in Photoshop...just downloaded straight from the camera. While I'm learning to take better pictures I'd really like to learn to make edit the pictures I do take into better pictures. Maybe I'll learn that when I figure out a way to not need sleep!

By the way...all these pictures were taken with my new lens. I LOVE IT!!

DAY 113 - April 23, 2010

I got an early Mother's Day present today. I've had my eye on a new camera lens...a 55-200mm zoom lens. Doug and the boys surprised me with it tonight before Doug and I went out. My photography get together is tomorrow and they wanted me to have it in time to play with it. I'm so excited to give it a try!

It was really sweet of Doug to go online and figure out what to get. He knew the general lens I was looking at but said he called 3 times and told them what he wanted and what camera I had and asked which one they knew would work on my camera. He called so many times to make sure they all gave him the same answer. Guess the 3rd time was the charm because he bought it!

Waiting for guests...

DAY 112 - April 21, 2010

Look at these 4 amigos...starting from left is Mark (political consultant), David Taylor, Doug, and Dan Moriarty. Tonight was a joint fundraiser for the 3 Perry Township guys running in the Primary. Doug is running the campaign for David Taylor who is running for Constable and the 2 others are currently office holders and unopposed in the Primary.

The fundraiser was held at Paulies, an Italian restaurant on the south side. We had a great turnout and brought in a lot for each of the candidates. This was shot just a few minutes before people started coming in.

LILACS!!!

DAY 111 - April 20, 2010





We've got a fairly young lilac bush at the end of our landscaping along our fence and it popped out about 3 blooms. I absolutely LOVE lilac bushes! Doug brought me in one of the blooms and I just love the way it smells. I went out to take a quick picture of the other blooms that were on it. It will be a great cornerstone bush for that side of the house as it grows. While I can't wait for that I will definitely enjoy it now too!

Busy, Busy, Busy Times

DAY 110 - April 19, 2010

Photo to come...upload must not have worked.

DAY 109 - April 18, 2010

I promised pictures of the white flowers on the trees that line our street and here it is. This time I got close up on them rather than showing the whole tree (I think I did that last year for the picture of the day). I really love these trees. And, while I hate to see them go, when they start coming off the trees it looks like its snowing.

DAY 108 - April 17, 2010

What a busy day! We had so much going on it was almost too much. Luckily we enjoyed every minute of it! Here we are at the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. It's amazing that over 40,000 people participate in this run/walk. You can see the masses in this picture.

The boys and I walked in celebration of my mom...my favorite breast cancer survivor!

This is the wrong picture...I think I just loaded it wrong but my intention is to put a picture here of Doug, Chris, Dawn, and Nick who walked in memory of Chris' mom Lucile who passed away from breast cancer.

Here we are...lost in the sea of people...just starting our walk. We did the 1 mile family walk but it was plenty long considering we walked at a much slower pace than normal because of the amount of people joining us!

After the Race for the Cure Kaleb had a baseball game (which I didn't get any decent pictures of) and then we headed downtown for some dinner and an Indians game. Doug has a contact he was

able to get some tickets from this season. These tickets are awesome! We're right behind the Indians dugout. There are no cup holders for us...we just put them on the top of the dugout. While there tonight I took the big lens that John let me borrow to play with. It only works in manual focus for my camera so I don't always get clear pictures. I was pleased with this one though. If you look close you can see the ball (in a blur) entering the scene on the left.

Here's the crew...sitting on the dugout no less for this picture. It was a bit chilly as you can see but still a nice night for a game. We're all tired from our busy day!

Indianapolis Indians home opener

DAY 107 - April 16, 2010



Tonight was opening night at Victory Field for our Indianapolis Indians. Doug actually won some tickets through the people that provide the software the police department uses. We were SO SURPRISED! We never win anything! He got 4 tickets and the seats were great...right behind home plate. We took our good friends Brian and Joann Peavler and had a great time. The weather didn't look too promising throughout the day but it cleared off and was a really nice night. Although it was a little cool it was not too bad. They didn't have a great game and ended up losing but it was still fun. It was also Fireworks Friday so we beat the rush and got in the car and watched them from the street. It was fun!

Perry Township Art Show

DAY 106 - April 15, 2010



In art this year the teacher put the kids in groups to work on a big project. They were to make a pinata. Kaden and 3 other kids came up with the idea to make a bulldog named what other than Lilly. Their project was chosen to be shown in the Perry Township Art Show. Here he is looking all proud to show it off. Doesn't it look great! It will really work as a pinata too.

Goodbye to Swimy

DAY 104 - April 13, 2010


We had a little fishy funeral today. Kaden got Swimy over a year ago from Market Day at school. At Market Day the kids all have little stores where they sell goods. It's an exercise in managing money. One of Kaden's purchases was this little fish. And believe me, he was small when he purchased him. I really didn't think he'd survive in our tank but he did...and he grew and grew. He was about 1/3 of this size when we got him and he seemed to just thrive with us. I came home tonight and found him floating and had to break the news to Kaden. Kaden always considered him "his" fish and it hit him pretty hard. We decided to have a little funeral, just him and I, and I think it helped. He made this little place to lay him and was surprised when he made the box for him to lay in that he was actually bigger than the box he drew!

Hodge-podge

DAY 103 - April 12, 2010

Another everyday sight at the entrance of our neighborhood. This sign is so true...there are lots of kids in the neighborhood that all play together. Sometimes, in the back of the neighborhood they'll get a kick ball game going and there will be a TON of kids all playing together. I love that the parents all watch out for whatever kids are near their place. It's such a great neighborhood to raise kids.

DAY 102 - April 11, 2010

Kaleb LOVES to cook and is constantly checking out cook books designed for kids from the school library. This week he checked out one called "Quick Breads" and wanted to make just about every bread in there. We chose to do a pumpkin bread and here is the finished product. It was VERY GOOD!! Kaden even liked it, except for the fact that we put the optional walnuts in it which he didn't like. So, next time we'll leave them out and all will be happy. The good thing is that it made 2 loaves so we had breakfast and snacks covered for a few days!

DAY 101 - April 10, 2010

These flowers popped overnight on one of the bushes we planted at the end of last summer. There are 3 of them and will eventually "hide" our pool equipment. They are very fragrant and I can't wait until all 3 are blooming.

Have you heard of this?

DAY 100 - April 9, 2010

The boys and I went geocaching tonight with Melanie Goldman, her daughters Megan and Rachael, and Cara (which is a girl from school that both Meg and Kaden pal around with). Geocaching is a type of high-tech treasure hunt. You use a handheld GPS (or a cell phone with GPS capabilities) and it guides you to find hidden boxes or containers that others have placed in secret spots. Actually, you'd be surprised, there are these things ALL OVER the place...you probably drive by one of those secret locations every day!

The idea is that when you find one you sign the log that is in there. Depending on the size of the cache you may be able to take something from it and put something else in it. The one we found tonight is the little pill container Melanie is holding. All it contained was the log sheet and it was found under the little compartment on the light post that Kaleb is holding up.

It was a really fun time and is a great family activity. I plan on downloading the application to my phone so we can do it as well. I just need to find the time to give it a try.

Off to sleepy-town.

DAY 99 - April 8, 2010

There are 3 sleepy "people" on this couch tonight. Obviously Kaden and Lilly are fast asleep...and they're both laying on me. I'm not out yet but give me an extra few minutes and I would have been. Doug snapped this one for us tonight. Don't they look comfortable?

A yummy dessert to share.

DAY 98 - April 7, 2010

We hit the jackpot with this dessert since it had something we all liked. Kaden is such a picky eater AND doesn't like chocolate so sometimes it's hard to share something because a lot of what we usually get has chocolate in it. This was a dessert sampler at Longhorn Steakhouse that had cheesecake with strawberry sauce, an apple crisp, and a piece of chocolate cake. Everybody was happy!

A special treat for Lilly.

DAY 97 - April 6, 2010


The boys have been waiting since we got Lilly to take her to Ritter's for a special dog-treat ice cream they give out for free. It's a small scoop of ice cream with a Milkbone on top. Here she in enjoying it. We all had fun watching her get something special. She doesn't ever get Human food but we gave in this time.

A little of this and a little of that.

DAY 96 - April 5, 2010


What a dreary day it was today. It's been raining ALL day. We even had some pea size hail tonight. This is the view from our front porch. You can't really tell but it was completely POURING at the time of this picture.

DAY 95 - April 4, 2010

A view of our Easter basket from Doug's parents. Chris always puts together the best baskets. We got lots of little snacks that last for days. She puts in some "healthier choices" along with some not-so-healthy choices. I always look forward to lunches at work following Easter because I know I'll have a little something different I got from my basket.

DAY 94 - April 3, 2010

Being silly and trying not to get swallowed up by the octopus!

Their "prize" shark (a shark-ray) named Sweet Pea...it was her birthday celebration the weekend we were there. Those red things under her head are the candles on top of the big cake they had put in her tank.

Feeding the birds. One drawback to this...some birds are "above" which means you have to watch out below! None of us were victims to this but I saw several who were.

Jellyfish...I always love watching these critters.

Petting the sharks...

My favorite guys after a long day at the aquarium. We visited the Newport Aquarium which is located on the south side of Cincinnati. It's actually on the opposite side of the Ohio River which puts it in Kentucky but for all practical purposes we say we went to Cincinnati this weekend.

A little weekend getaway.

DAY 93 - April 2, 2010

We went away for a little overnight getaway this weekend. Doug had the idea to go to Cincinnati to the Newport Aquarium. Actually, the aquarium is south of the Ohio River which puts it in Kentucky...in a suburb of Cincy called Newport. It was a really neat place and we had a blast. The aquarium was located on the river and had a great shopping and dining area attached to it. The weather was beautiful and we all thoroughly enjoyed the day. I only worked 1/2 day today which puts me leaving at 10am since I start at 6am. That makes for a nice early start. We drove over after I got off work and were able to check into the hotel and head down to the outdoor shopping area We grabbed a late lunch and then went to see the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie. This whole weekend was a surprise to the boys...all they knew was that they were going out of town. The movie was just step 1 of the surprise.

Don't look if you're squeamish...

DAY 92 - April 1, 2010

This is what you get when the house is suddenly quiet from dog collar tags jingling and you can't find the dog. The boys were outside playing and Doug and I were taking a couple minutes to catch up. Suddenly he asks, "Where's Lilly?" and the search begins. We're calling her and I'm running upstairs to check the bedrooms. Ordinarily all the doors are kept shut but today it was nice and breezy out so the windows and doors were open to get some fresh air. After I'd looked under all the beds but to no avail I hear Doug say he'd found her. She was coming out of the playroom looking very guilty. We went in to see what she could have gotten into (this dog will eat ANYTHING!!!) and the closet door was open. the only thing that looked awry was the gallon bucket we have that holds Nerf darts. It looked "less full" than usual. Now, I can tell you that Lilly will eat these things and "it all comes out in the end" just fine if you catch my drift. But this didn't look like she'd eaten a couple...

The vet had told us that if she ate anything she shouldn't have (American Bulldogs are known for this) then we can give her some hydrogen peroxide and she'll vomit it back up before it gets into her digestive tract. Long story short...we did this and it didn't work this time. Notice I said "this time"...we've had experience with this 2 other times already...once with a sock and once with a piece of rawhide that she decided to swallow...it was only about 5 inches long! We got out the peroxide and I walked her outside and waited...and waited...and nothing. I figured maybe we were wrong on how many darts there were in the bucket.

The next morning I woke up to find 5 darts outside her kennel and it was obvious she'd gotten sick during the night. Then...and this is the amazing part...Doug returned home from class to find her kennel very brightly colored with yellow and orange darts. We were both amazed at just how many darts she'd actually eaten. Really...can foam taste that good that a dog will just eat them and eat them? I'm sure if we hadn't started calling for her when this all happened that bucket would have been empty!